


Harmed

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-05 23:05:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16376750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: A bruise is left on Rindy’s arm one morning that concerns and alarms both her mothers.





	1. Who Did It?

“What’s that on your arm, Rindy?” Therese asked, sprinkling brown sugar across the top of buttered toast. She watched the four-year-old somberly chew her cereal as she lowered the inner part of her left arm to hide it underneath the kitchen table. Therese saw the child’s bruise clear as day, but she didn’t want to believe it. It was a yellowish-green color the size of a baseball.

“Honey, let me see your arm,” Therese spoke again. “I won’t get mad.”

“No,” Rindy mumbled. 

Therese sighed loudly just as Carol walked in patting out her freshly clean face with a hand towel. She took notice of the unsettling silence she was getting from her family. She stepped towards the kitchen table and placed a hand on Therese’s back.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Rindy, will you please show us your arm,” Therese went on, exasperated. “If you’re hurt, I want to know who’s responsible.”

Her adoptive daughter slowly raised her arm up, exposing the bruise. Carol gasped and quickly moved towards her little girl on the other end of the table, carefully taking hold of her. 

“My precious sweet girl,” she said, kissing the injury carefully. “Who did this to you? What happen?”

“I don’t want to get in trouble, Mommy,” Rindy murmured. 

“No baby,” Carol said, pressing her child’s head hard against her collarbone. “Don’t ever think that, alright? You mustn’t.”

“Was it a boy from school?” Therese questioned. “Somebody in your class?”

Rindy nodded her head slowly while Carol pulled her back to kiss her between the eyes. “Who was it, sweetheart?”

“Nort Belham,” Rindy replied. “He whacked me with his slingshot during recess.”

Therese scowled. “We should speak to his mother.”

“We cannot let this happen again,” Carol agreed. She kissed Rindy a second time. “You understand what Nort did to you was wrong, right darling?”

“Can I go play with Elsie now?” Rindy whined, speaking about her brand new doll. 

“Sure, honey,” Carol smiled sadly. She released her grasp once her child slid off the chair and broke into a frenzy run out of the kitchen. 

Therese covered her face with her hands at the breakfast table and remained there for a long minute until Carol approached her and wrapped her in her arms. 

“Rindy’s hurt, Carol,” Therese murmured. “That’s not okay.”

“Of course it’s not,” Carol sighed. 

“That boy should be punished for his actions.”

“Let his mother do that. I’ll go ring her up right now and tell her what happened.”

Therese moved her hands away and relaxed by the comforting squeeze on both shoulders and watched Carol leave.

Carol glanced at Rindy briefly in the living room, on the floor, brushing Elsie’s hair out with a spare wooden brush. She moved past through the hallway and stood by the telephone in the foyer. She finger-spun and asked the Operator for the Belham’s residence number. 

“Hello, yes?” answered a young man’s voice. 

“Good morning. Are you in any relation to a Nort Belham?” Carol spoke formally.

“Why yes, he’s my kid brother. This is Joe Belham speaking...”

“Is your mother decent, Joe?”

“I’m afraid she isn’t, ma’am. What’s this all about? Who am I speaking to?”

“This is Carol Belivet. My daughter, Rindy, shares the same class with your brother, Nort.”

“What has Nort done, Mrs. Belivet?”

 _Mrs. Belivet._ It sounded perfect to Carol’s ears. 

“Mrs. Belivet? Hello?”

“Yes, sorry,” Carol cleared her throat. “I’m calling to inform you on Nort’s behavior. He whacked my daughter’s arm with a toy slingshot during recess and gave her a bruise.”

“Golly, my brother did that? My Norbert?” 

“Yes.”

“How terribly sorry I am for that, Mrs. Belivet. Nort can be rough around the edges, but I had no idea! Say, here he is now... Wait a minute...” a muffled pause and then several slaps broke out from the other end with a boy crying in the background. Carol winced over the imagery of Joe Belham slapping his brother on the bottom for punishment. She, herself, didn’t believe in physical violence. Maybe sending the kid to bed early or keeping him locked inside the house for a week was better?

“Nort got a few rounds of my belt, Mrs. Belivet, but he insists that he didn’t whack your Rindy with a slingshot. He says he lost that toy a long time ago from walking our mutt in the woods.”

“He said that?” Carol frowned.

“I know my brother wouldn’t hit anyone. Maybe it’s your daughter’s behavior you should check again. She could be lying to you, Mrs. Belivet.”

“How dare you,” Carol began gravelly. 

“Good day, ma’am. Don’t bother calling this number again!”

He hung up, leaving Carol completely stunned and speechless.


	2. Chapter 2

Therese stood behind Carol in the foyer as she hung the phone up with the tips of her fingers on her lips.

“What did Mrs. Belham say?” 

“I didn’t speak to her. I spoke to Nort’s older brother, Joe,” Carol said wearily. “He says that Norbert didn’t hit Rindy with the slingshot. The boy told him that he lost the toy during a walk in the woods with their pet dog.”

“He’s lying. You don’t believe in that, do you?” Therese moved her hand away and watched Carol rub her left temple with grief. “The Belham brothers are a bunch of liars!”

“Calm down, Therese, alright? What good will it do if we become mad hysterical about it?” Carol questioned. “I think we should go talk to Rindy again...”

“Why? Are you saying she made it up?” Therese snapped. No response came. She allowed Carol to step past her through the hallway. She followed the mother into the living room where they found Rindy pushing Elsie the Doll on the furnished oak rocking chair. 

“Rindy, sweetheart, we have to talk to you about your arm again,” Carol spoke up. She kneeled low down on the floor beside her daughter and the chair in front of the fireplace. Therese remained standing with her arms crossed together.

“I told you Nort did it,” Rindy said now, keeping her eyes on the doll. 

“Yes, honey, I know.” Carol held her breath and could feel Therese’s eyes glaring at her with total betrayal and dismay but continued on. “I had just spoken to Nort’s brother on the phone. And he told me that Nort lost his slingshot in the woods...”

Rindy kept quiet and kept rocking Elsie back and forth with a creaking sound coming from the smooth curved legs.

“You know the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie, right?” Carol spoke carefully.

“Yes,” Rindy murmured. 

“I want you to tell us the truth, honey. Tell us who gave you the bruise.”

“Nort did it, Mommy,” Rindy said, voice hitching up. “He’s the one who hurt me! Don’t you believe me?”

“Of course we do,” Therese said now, moving over to pick Rindy up. “Mommy’s all done talking about it- isn’t she?” 

Carol nodded, in desperate need for a cigarette. 

Therese kissed Rindy before placing her back down again. The little girl then reached over and snatched Elsie up. The doll’s lifeless blue eyes stared upon at nothing with pink lips and long eyelashes.

A few days later, Harge arrived one early afternoon without Rindy. He marched outside the driveway with his shoes crunching up the gravel with his ex-wife standing by the door, balancing a cigarette between her fingers. She gave him a waxy smile with a lost look in her eyes.

“Harge, where’s Rindy?” her voice gone soft and weak.

“Rindy is never going to spend the night here with you ever again,” he snapped. “What kind of mother beats their own daughter? Huh?”

Carol blinked, becoming pale. “Wh-What?”

“I saw what you did to her arm, Carol. I’m not an idiot,” Harge snarled. 

“N-No,” Carol stammered. “That’s not- I would never...”

“I’m reporting child abuse,” Harge went on. “The agreement on your visiting rights will be terminated.”

“Harge, please,” Carol began, tears welling up in her eyes. “I wouldn’t hurt my own daughter! My baby!”

“So why is she telling me that you did, Carol?” Harge yelled at her. “Can you answer me on that?”


End file.
